General Assembly 2006

Keith and Lee Ann Conover

Former Presbytery and Synod moderator, Keith Conover and his wife Lee Ann follow the Assembly Committee on Ecclesiology at the Assembly.

Tuesday at the Assembly

Former Presbytery and Synod moderator, Keith Conover and his wife Lee Ann follow the Assembly Committee on Ecclesiology at the Assembly.

The Assembly committee on Mission Coordination reported first, today, Tuesday, June 20, 2006. The Assembly’s first item of business was to confirm the election of, and to install elder Linda Valentine, of the Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, Illinois, to a four year term as the Executive Director of the General Assembly Council. The Assembly voted 90% in favor of the election and proceeded to install Linda.

Linda Valentine is a senior executive attorney with more than thirty years of business and not-for-profit experience. As senior vice president of Motorola, she was one of the two highest ranked women in the company of more than 130,000 employees and served as general counsel for Motorola’s communications businesses, which had sales of $29 billion in 2000. She has held leadership and managerial positions in law, business, and professional and nonprofit organizations.

Linda Valentine received her JD degree from Georgetown University Law Center and a Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction in economics and political science from the University of Michigan. She studied business in the MBA program at the University of Southern California. She and her husband, Chris, are the parents of three children.

The Assembly then expressed its gratitude for the faithful and dedicated service of Elder John Detterick as President of the Board of Pensions (1993-1998) and Executive Director of the General Assembly Council (1998-2006) and prays God’s blessings as he retires.

Following the election of General Assembly Committee members, the assembly proceeded to consider the Peace Unity and Purity report after its lunch recess. The moderator called upon the assembly and all the observers to convene in the assembly hall at 1:30p.m. in order to be led in a time of prayer preceding the assembly’s consideration of the Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity report. The Assembly adopted the report and recommendations 1, 2, 3, and 4 by a vote of 459 yes, 41 no, and 7 abstentions.

The Assembly Committee on Ecclesiology recommended the Task Force’s recommendation number 5, the minority report asked that recommendation number 5 be disapproved.

The original motion was first amended to remove “authoritative” from recommendation number 5 which was overwhelmingly defeated since the General Assembly giving interpretation will be giving “authoritative interpretation.” A second series of amendments was made to recommendation number 5, part d.) Whether the examination and ordination and installation decision comply with the constitution of the PCUSA, and] whether the ordaining/installing body has conducted its examination reasonably, responsibly, prayerfully, and deliberately in deciding to ordain a candidate for church office is subject to review by higher governing bodies. The vote was approved by a vote of 288 yes, 207 no, and 5 abstentions.

The minority report to disapprove Recommendation 5 was defeated by a vote of 234 yes, 287 no.

A motion to refer came to the floor for debate. It stated, “The General Assembly refer with comment recommendations 5&6 to the Presbyteries for their consideration and response prior to final action on these recommendations, utilizing the resources and processes suggested in Recommendations 1-4 in the Report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity … and direct the Office of the General Assembly to develop an instrument by which the Presbyteries may advise the General Assembly whether or not the 218th General Assembly should adopt the proposed authoritative interpretation, and to approve Recommendation 7.” The motion to refer lost by a vote of 234, 258.

The Assembly proceeded to a final vote to approve the Peace Unity and Purity Report -- 298 in favor and 221 against. After a long afternoon of debate, the Assembly recessed for dinner and reconvened with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church for worship in the Convention Center Concert Hall.

If you want to follow along with the Assembly news and/or watch via live video streaming, click on to www.pcusa.org/ga217/

Weekend eNews Edition

An eNews General Assembly Weekend Update

After the election of the new moderator, the Rev. Joan Gray of Greater Atlanta Presbytery, on Thursday evening, the General Assembly commissioners met in their respective committees to work through the business assigned to them in order to bring to the assembly for their deliberation, prayers, recommendations, and actions. Redstone commissioners were assigned to serve the following committees:
Assembly Committee #8 on Mission Coordination – Elder Ruth Fisher
Assembly Committee #9 on Social Justice Issues – Rev. Lanny Mellinger
Assembly Committee #10 on Health Issues – Elder Sophia Earhart
Assembly Committee #11on Peacemaking and International Issues – Rev. Kenneth Foust
Assembly Committee #12 on Church Growth and Christian Education – Youth Advisory Delegate, Abby Stark

On Sunday Redstone Presbytery hosted commissioners and observers from the Presbytery at the Café at the Redmont Hotel adjacent to the historic First Presbyterian Church where past moderator, Rick Ufford-Chase preached the sermon at the two services. Between services and after the second service the church hosted a hospitality coffee hour.

Today, Monday, June 19, 2006, the gathered commissioners will begin to hear the recommendations of the committees’ actions. Most of the committees have finished their work and have posted their recommendations.

In tomorrow morning’s session the Assembly will be considering Theological Issues and Institutions who brought a recommendation about the theological paper on the Trinity. If you want to follow along with the Assembly news and/or watch via live video streaming, click on to www.pcusa.org/ga217/

Thursday update

A sizeable contingent of people from Redstone Presbytery is here in Birmingham, Alabama for the 217th General Assembly. Today, an orientation to the work and the computer mechanism for the commissioner’s use was held in the Assembly Hall. This year commissioners were asked to use a computer intranet connection (referred to as “Les” – meaning less paper) to see the business before the assembly. Each of the committees of the Assembly and the overtures referred to the committees is electronically available for commissioners and observers to view as it is discussed. There is also an electronic voting system which is able to tally each commissioner’s vote in about 10 seconds of being prompted.

The extraordinary surprise of our gathering in Birmingham came today as Stan Anderson; an elder at the Central Presbyterian Church in Denver, Colorado announced a gift of $150 million dollars in a multiplication effort, like the loaves and fish were multiplied by Jesus following the Sermon on the Mount, where presbyteries are invited to write a proposal

At the dinner break, the Outlook Foundation heard from each of the four commissioners standing for election as the Moderator of the Assembly. Thursday evening was the Assembly meeting to elect the General Assembly moderator for the next two years.

The four candidates answered questions from commissioners for an hour ranging from their views on ordination of homosexual persons to their hope for the future of the church. After 3 ballots the Assembly elected Rev. Joan Gray from Greater Atlanta Presbytery to serve for two years as their moderator. Rev. Gray is a graduate of Columbia Theological Seminary and has served there as an adjunct professor in Polity. She has served as a pastor, an interim pastor, moderator of Greater Atlanta Presbytery, a co-author of Presbyterian Polity for Church Officers, and numerous presbytery committees. She has been described as a healing leader whose desires and abilities would allow the church to clearly hear other leaders and would help to point the church into a spiritual renewal that would allow the church, with the help of God, to become its best self.” The voting tallies for the three ballots are:

Block Carson Gray Halverson
143 109 139 113
160 69 205 69
152 19 307 20

Elder Robert Wilson of North Alabama Presbytery is the selection for vice-moderator of the 217th General Assembly. The Assembly will confirm and install Mr. Wilson on Monday.